1002 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



May 



the market bulbs which liave been weak- 

 ened in this manner, and the only rem- 

 edy for the poor quality of the Harrisii 

 is to stop cutting the bloom. Those 

 who sell but do not grow might show 

 their friendship for the growers here by 

 refusing to buy these imported blooms. 

 In return they would throughout the 

 year receive a better lily, for with no 

 market for the bloom this nnbusiness 

 like outrage would cease. 



As usual the spring of the year brings 

 a demand for stock of all kinds which 

 cannot be met. Carnations from pots 

 and grafted roses being called for daily 

 and the supply long since exhausted. 

 The yearly output of such stock is large, 

 but the demand for good stock seems to 

 be without limit. About the finest stock 

 we have put on the market has been Yel- 

 low Eaton and the demand for it has 

 been good. 



Several rose houses have been re- 

 planted already — a house of Meteor, one 

 of Brides and one of American Beauties. 

 This last house has been rebenched and 

 the house lias been greatly improved. 

 The benches, formerly five feet in width, 

 have been made over into three foot 

 benches, witli ciahteeninch walks and 



the benches have been lowered and put 

 on a level. This gives more light to the 

 jiUnits. as there arc more outside rows, 

 ajid it should be a grand house, for the 

 slock useil in benching is the finest we 

 liave ever planted. 



In a week oV two the house which was 

 devoted to Liberty Avill be planted to 

 Liuvson from pots. This is a new de- 

 parture and is in a measure an experi- 

 ment. With an empty house it will be 

 woith trying, biit to throw out a house 

 in full crop to plant it from pots, I 

 should consider very xinwi.se. 



The death of Mrs. H. E. Charter, of 

 ileriden. was ' sad news, for in her we 

 lose an old friend and a good customer. 

 Who will be the leading Meriden florist 

 now is a question, but there is an op- 

 portunity for some one. 



We have hid two sevcvp frcsts since 

 the 1st of Jtay. and the damage will be 

 heavy to the first crop in this section, 

 although very little of our stull' suftered. 



ilr. A. X. Pierson. accompanied by 

 ilrs. Pierson, left on May 2 for a six 

 weeks' trip to Colorado and California. 

 Xot business, but pleasure. 



W. 1!. l'iEn.so-\. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Aquatics. 



I have been asked bj' correspondents 

 of late some questions about hard'- 

 water lilies (nympluieas). If I had one- 

 half an acre of ground and clay to pi"'- 

 die some basins. I should dearly like 

 to cultivate some myself. There may 

 not be a great profit in their cultivation 

 as cut blooms, but how beautiful they 

 are. and a garden of any extent is not 

 complete without any aquatic features 

 in the landscape. We . all know how 

 true tliis is in large parks and grounds. 

 and if the pleasure ground or ornamen- 

 tal garden is but an acre, the lily pond. 

 if only a few square yards in extent, 

 will be the most visited spot of all the 

 garden during the summer months. I 

 once had the pleasure of visiting Henry 

 A. Dreer's water garden one morning in 

 June and will not soon forget the pleas- 

 ure it gave. There the aquatic ki)ig. 

 William Tiicker. presides over his pets, 

 and what Mr. Tricker does not know 

 about nymphceas. lotus and other aqua- 

 tic plants would not bait a mouse trap. 



Many are deterred from having a 

 small water garden, thinking it is much 

 trouble and considerable expense, ily 

 experience, and it was considerable dur- 

 ing the Pan-American, where we had 

 many hundreds of plants covering sev- 

 eral acres in area, that neither in pre- 

 paring the ])Onds or soil is there much 

 of either. Where the subsoil is clay 

 and the bottom and sides can lie pud- 

 dled, there would be little trouble. 

 Smaller tanks could Vie made of masonry 

 and lined with cement, but the latter 

 would be expensive. 



There is often found some low spot or 

 depression in a garden, and that is the 

 place for the lily pond. Excavate two 

 feet deep if you strike a blue clay : then 

 put on the bottom a foot of heavy loam 



with ouo-third dairy manure. If the 

 loam is almost a clay, none the worse, 

 and if there is a foot or lij inches of it. 

 all tlie better, and whether there is 

 1 foot IS iuclj«s or 2 feet of water over 

 the .soil is of no consequence, but a foot 

 will do. Don't plant closer than 3 or 4 

 feet. Tlie rich soil is the essential. 

 You should keep the water clear of that 

 green, slimy growth that often appears 

 in stagnant water, and of all water 

 weeds. The more toads and frogs and 

 little fishes you have in the water the 

 better, but be sure to exclude that 

 muddy, bony fish called carp, for they 

 are vegetarians and will root out and 

 destroy the roots. I liave known carp 

 to eat up a lot of nelumbiuni roots in a 

 few months. Also keep out ducks; they 

 are bad. Geese are worse and swans 

 are '"worstest." 



Under Mr. Tricker's advice we plant- 

 ed hardy nymphfcas from July to end 

 <if September, and they wintered, grew 

 and bloomed grandly the following year. 

 Young plants put in the ponds now or 

 any time this month would of course 

 give you splendid blooms from July on. 

 These nymphseas that cover the surface 

 of the ponds are called hardy, and so 

 they are under proper conditions, but if 

 the water is shallow and it freezes solid 

 and frost reaches the plants they will 

 perish. If there are a few inches of 

 Avater between the ice and the surface of 

 bed, all is well. As the water was run 

 off to a few inches during my late ex- 

 jierience with the lily ponds, we had to 

 cover them with a foot of evergreen 

 boughs, but it answered the purpose. A 

 little ingenuity will always devise some 

 plan to keep the soil from freezing. 



The list of hardy nyniphaMS is lone 

 and you can have white, yellow ami 

 shades of pink in manv varieties. 



Wii.r.i.\M SroTT. 



COMPRESSED AIR. 



The article in another column on the 

 use of compressed air instead of water 

 for syringing roses may contain a very 

 useful suggestion and the plan is at 

 least worthy of trial by those having 

 facilities. 



In conversation some years ago with 

 one of the ablest rose gi'owers in the 

 country he remarked that tlie next great 

 advance in the growing of roses under 

 glass would be through the discovery 

 of some means of keeping red spider in 

 check other than sj-ringing, and in not- 

 ing the objections to syringing he men- 

 tioned one matter not touched upon 

 by Mr, McNaughton, and this was the 

 damage done to the blooms, especially 

 Beauties, by the moisture lodging in the 

 cup of the partly opened fiower and this 

 producing that parboiled, faded edge to 

 the petals under the action of the sun 

 and moisture. As spring advances and 

 the sun becomes stronger the market 

 always fills up with these poor grade 

 flowers, and there is little doubt that 

 the damage is the result of moisture in 

 the flower, followed by bright sunshine, 



^^'e have heard well posted and 

 thoughtful rose growers express the con- 

 viction that it was the cold, rather than 

 the inoisture that destroyed the young 

 red spider and that tepid water was not 

 nearly so elfective as that direct from 

 the hydrant. If this is so the required 

 condition could be met with the com- 

 pressed air and the objectidnable mois- 

 ture almost entirely eliminated. Or 

 when moisture was considered desirable 

 the required amount could be easil.v 

 mixed with the air. 



The idea is so novel that it will prob- 

 ably be received with many reservations, 

 but the plan is certainlv worthy of trial 

 in an experimental way. 



IT IS SAID: 



That the demand for carnation cut- 

 tings this season breaks all records.. 



That the carnation men have had the 

 best of the rose men so far as the actual 

 profits of the season are concerned. 



That the roses have done so poorly so 

 far that with even the good rose months 

 of ^lay and June to come there will be 

 less profit than in former years. 



That there will be a meeting of the 

 A, C, S, committee on premiums at De- 

 troit in May for the purpose of fixing 

 up the schedule for next February, Let 

 us hope they will cut out all fancy 

 vases from competitive classes unless it 

 be wliere prizes are awarded for best 

 arrangement, etc. 



That there was a meeting of the 

 PiFony Society held at Brooklyn during 

 the convention of the A, C, S, We 

 would not have missed it for anything, 

 had we known. Was such a meeting 

 held? 



That Adonis is not the only one to 

 make its debut slowly. 



That at the next convention of the 

 nurserymen an effort will be made to 

 strengthen the Pseony Society, 



That there will be more "doing" at 

 jNIilwaukee next August than ever be- 

 fore. Save vour pennies. 



That Mr, "Richard Witterstaetter, of 

 Cincinnati, is to be married in May to 

 a very estimable young lady of that 

 burg. 



That the sanction of the above trans- 

 action was responsible for "Dick's" ab- 

 sence from the little dinner given re- 



